You’re entitled to your opinion, which I obviously respect, but I think Freelancer does continue to offer replay value 
some people are hit and miss regarding the grind for mastery, but I personally enjoyed it. Regarding the targets, I guess they are low level crime syndicates that are really nobodies, but are just starting up their network, which is why Diana commissions 47 to eliminate them before they become too established and spread their work across the would, further developing their crime network.
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I don’t think that’s true. I’ve seen way more people get annoyed by how hard it is to grind after level 80 than people who enjoy it.
Freelancer needs some love in both balance and QOL for me to play it again.
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Recently I like to complete unfinished challenges. Just like the older games, I launch up the game to play the missions in the most immersive way possible. Slow paced and avoiding all the gimmicks that make the game feel game-y. Just the way that fits 47’s way of doing things.
I don’t play freelancer. It gives me stress and the reward doesn’t live up to the effort. I only launch up an elusive target from time to time for a nice change of pace. Sniper assassin is also quite alright for some time. For the rest its all strategically roleplaying as 47.
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I only play Freelancer nowadays, plus any Elusive Targets and new challenges when they get released.
I had thought once I finish all Freelancer challenges, I’d not play it anymore, but with mods like Freelancer Variations and by continuing to Prestige and switching to Hardcore, I’m still enjoying my time with it, even if I play a lot less overall.
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I am a sample size of exactly 1, but… I constantly play Freelancer simply for the love of it. Unlocking the mastery was merely incidental to my enjoyment of the game mode itself.
Now, it could definitely do with some more uses for Merces than simply buying weapons and tools and tossing in a few bonus side-quests here and there would be wonderful but I still keep coming back to this game mode because, at first, I wanted to git gud at Hardcore - now my goal is to git gud at back-to-back perfect objective runs of Hardcore.
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My love for it just doesn’t go that far, I’m afraid. My enthusiasm for Freelancer just gets killed the more I play it. Mastery is the main form of progression in the mode, after all, and for that to be so slow is really demotivating to me. Good on you for not caring about that I suppose, but I’m not one to think that way.
I want to feel like my time in the mode was earned in some meaningful and progressive manner, which Freelancer currently doesn’t do all that well as the progression gest slower and the sidequest of getting weapons takes a long time when done piecemeal. And, as you said, there’s a lack of an outlet for Merces, which just makes the problems of the mode even worse.
I can’t just ignore large-scale issues like this because the game mode has an otherwise-fun gameplay loop, because the issues I have directly connect to my enjoyment of the mode as a whole experience. Seeing an XP progress bar move slower and slower the more you play is not fun, having very little to spend Merces on is not fun. Feeling like you’re stuck on a single mastery level is just…not fun. It’s a tiring feeling I cannot get rid myself of in the mode’s current state.
And IO have had two years to make changes and haven’t really done so.
Oh yeah, while I’m here, Hardcore is also something that should be revised entirely, but I’ll leave it at that.
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The overall theme of your post seems to be that Freelancer doesn’t do enough to keep you engaged and also demotivates you by having grindy Mastery. There is always room for improvement and I can’t imagine anyone would object to them adding more game mechanics that give you additional stuff to do while playing a campaign, I really hope they do this, in fact.
The XP curve to reach Mastery 100 is very silly - and I say that as someone who has reached it. But I’ll play devil’s advocate for a second and say that, whilst it is silly, you need some manner of making the player feel like they’ve overcome something by the time they get there.
IMO, the difficulty of Hardcore is fine - it lives up to its name in that you need a proper understanding of how the AI differs from normal mode to understand the consequences of your actions.
However, the rewards for Hardcore suck balls. You should be able to blaze a trail through collecting weapons and unlocking mastery if you are able to flawlessly complete Hardcore campaigns and that just doesn’t happen.
I do feel your criticism of Freelancer, both now and in the past (including your videos) has been on the harsh side. I also share in some of your gripes but none of them collectively are bad enough to write off Freelancer as trash - it’s clear a lot of love went into making the game mode and I’ve accumulated untold hours playing it so I can’t, in good faith, address IOI aggressively for its shortcomings.
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Yes, because taking just as long to beat 10 levels than it does to reach the previous 90 makes you feel like overcoming a barrier. No, it is a patently unfair grind. That doesn’t make me feel like I accomplished something, it makes me want to stop playing it because it feels like I’m constantly hitting my head on a brick wall. That is not satisfying game design or progression.
“A little silly” is doing a lot of the heavy lifting there.
Um…okay? But you can absolutely have issues with the mode, without resorting to calling it a write-off, or trash, and I’m not sure why you went to complete dismissal when nothing I’ve said even remotely suggests that. That’s very binary thinking there; either it’s the best thing ever, or not worth playing and a total write-off, which is unfair for IO and when people want to discuss issues with the mode. Personally, I think I’ve managed to do quite well at keeping my videos critical of Freelancer, but at no point have I treated the mode with any disrespect, or as if I was writing it off?
Most of my Freelancer criticisms have been largely productive, and the issues I’ve had aren’t exactly unknown, and certainly not something I alone take issue with. I even said the gameplay loop is good, multiple times in fact, but the issues surrounding it make the mode unfun, which is worth discussing and bringing up to IO.
IMO, the difficulty of Hardcore is fine - it lives up to its name in that you need a proper understanding of how the AI differs from normal mode to understand the consequences of your actions.
Hardcore mode removes all tools on failure, all Merces are drained, while every level is on master mode, with extra annoyances on top of that. There’s living up to the name, and then just making it as unfriendly to the player as possible to add fake difficulty. The mode should be hard, absolutely, but not off-putting either.
And all for a suit unlock that, to be frank, doesn’t look very good, and a bragging rights in trophy form.
I concur, but focusing on how much effort IO put in when making the mode appears to be blinding you to the issues at hand. It is a well made mode, but that does not mean it doesn’t have issues. Right now, it has an unsustainable Merces economy, it is unnecessarily punishing to new players (and I have several friends who bought the game on my recommendation, and have played Freelancer and really did not like how it plays when starting out, letalone when they fail).
You don’t have to do it aggressively (and I don’t think I’ve been too aggressive about it either), but only focusing on the more positive aspects while largely downplaying anything negative just because you enjoyed the mode seems like a good way to make IO complacent in how they handle Freelancer. If you just blindly follow what IO say and not be critical of their actions, then they’ll make us all look like chumps. We’re not sheep, we’re people, and it’s best to remind IO of that.
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I voted for Freelancer. I still play it a little bit pretty much every day. It’s wild how much new life it breathed into WOA.
At the same time, the story missions are at the heart of the Hitman experience for me. It’s something I will always return to and Freelancer is only charging my battery for the next story playthrough.
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When I used to play it back when it was new, I had the same praise, I still do to some extent. The fact that S/A is no longer the be-all-end-all rating makes more playstyles more viable and coveted, and that does make more gameplay strats come through as a result.